CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 18, 2022

Nelly Korda

Tiburon Golf Club

Quick Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Here with Nelly Korda after her second round of the CME Group Tour Championship. Take us through your round today. What was going really well for you, and what do you have to do tomorrow to just sort of catch up? I know you're a few strokes behind.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I played pretty solid on the front. Just made putts on the front nine, honestly. Just didn't make them on the back. I gave myself a couple of really good looks, but just didn't convert them.

That's kind of what happens on this golf course. They've kind of used a lot of the Sunday pins, I would say. 16, 17, they kind of put them in the back just over a bunker. When you kind of get on one of those ridges that it can break either way, like, it just happens that occasionally you don't roll them in.

THE MODERATOR: A lot of pars on the back nine. I know these greens are tricky, though, so is par a good score out here? Is that good enough, do you think?

NELLY KORDA: Just a little disappointed with 17 with my length. I had a 9-iron in yesterday and an 8-iron in today, and I came out with par every single day. So I didn't really take advantage of my length off the tee or how well I hit it, but that's golf. You have those days, and hopefully I can learn from it tomorrow.

Q. Just curious if you think this is a course you could be aggressive on if you really need to make up a lot of ground?

NELLY KORDA: I think it just depends on how it's set up. Obviously, there's, like -- on the greens there's a lot of ridges. So you hit it on -- if you are aggressive and let's say you're hitting a controlled shot and you hit it on one of the down slopes, you can be over the green if you are aggressive, but that's the risk you're taking with playing aggressive.

So there are holes that I can be aggressive on, and there are holes that I just can't. So it just depends.

Q. Do you feel like with $2 million on the line you would take some risks you normally might not?

NELLY KORDA: No. I would say that I'm playing the same exact way that I was playing last week or the week before, the week before that.

It doesn't matter what prize money is on the line, what trophy is on the line. I'm going to go and approach every shot 100%, and I'm going to stay aggressive and stick to my game plan.

Q. The tee shot on 8, did that catch something?

NELLY KORDA: Shot on 8?

Q. You were a million miles away.

NELLY KORDA: You mean 9.

Q. 9, sorry.

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, it just hit the sand path.

Q. It had to have caught something.

NELLY KORDA: There was no way I hit that that far.

Q. Obviously, you're used to Florida wind. We get it. But when it is blowing, even today which isn't blowing super hard, but it's obviously a factor, do you block it out? Do you let the wind kind of -- I guess how does it affect the thinking because if you think about it too much, you can probably make it a bigger problem than the wind actually is.

NELLY KORDA: I just stick to the game plan. Everybody is dealing with the same wind that's out there on the golf course right now. That's just part of golf.

I mean, I've played in windier conditions. I've played in British where it's been tougher where you can't even get the ball in the air because it just takes it a mile. Over the years you play in these conditions, the more you learn. I've grown up out here, so yeah.

Q. Nelly, I wanted to ask you about the schedule. I saw you looking over it a little bit with your caddie out on the range this morning when it popped out. Just the biggest number being $100 million total purse. When you see that number, what do you think about that?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, it's amazing. Women's golf is really trending in a great direction. I think every year we see a lot of positives come from it. I would say when we're given this stage, we can prove that we're exciting and we're fun to watch.

I think that's all we need is just a way to prove ourselves, and we're getting that, and the sponsors can see it, and they're really backing us, and we're really grateful for that.

Q. You've obviously played a lot of golf with Brooke Henderson. On the course today she is obviously playing hurt. Did you notice her swing of looking different or she wasn't hitting it as far?

NELLY KORDA: I don't really pay attention to that. I'm sorry. When I'm out there, I'm kind of dialed into just me, myself, and I, solo ride.

I enjoy playing with Brooke a lot. She's so nice, so sweet. But other than that, like, maybe there was some times where she was a little shorter, but I didn't really notice too much. Sorry.

Q. You were saying earlier you were wearing your line this week. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, I got a really cool opportunity with J.Lindeberg to drop, like, a kind of capsule. We worked on a couple of pieces, a few shirts, few dresses, some hoodies, sweats, joggers. And it was really cool to kind of see the other side of that, and I'm super grateful that they even just gave me the opportunity. It's cool to kind of give my little touch to a clothing line.

Q. How would you describe your touch, your style?

NELLY KORDA: I don't know. I feel like there's a blend of a lot. There's a really cute cardigan. There's some leggings in there.

It kind of plays off my life too. Obviously, I play golf. I work out. All of that is kind of all in that line, but it's also fun, and there's also some chill clothing in there, sweats, hoodies. It just kind of all represents me.

Q. Is your name...

NELLY KORDA: Yeah, my name is hidden. I have Nelly Korda right here hidden in it. It's really cool. I love the colors. I picked green and blue just because on the golf course grass is green, blue skies. That's what we like (laughing), yeah.